Do you charge for your tours? Why?Yes, we do, because we are working folk and showing off our property takes time away from doing other things that make us money. We collectively spend many hours each week sharing our community via facebook, email, blog posts, and tours. Keep in mind that if you're interested in starting a tiny house community or building a tiny house of your own, it will likely be the best purchase under $50 you'll ever make!

Are you really the first tiny house community in America?We believe we’re the first tiny house community in the country and we’re proud to play this role in the Tiny House Movement. We’re very excited that others are also interested in creating tiny house communities. We host Tiny House Community Tours to help people learn about how we’ve created our community and we look forward to helping other tiny house communities take root!

How many people live at Simply Home Community? Who lives at Simply Home Community? Currently there are 7 people living at Simply Home Community: Tony, Aline, Lindsey, Jake, Karin, Isha, and Lina. We have a wide range of occupations, including teachers, health care practitioners, designers, builders, consultants, and professional geeks.

What's the age range at Simply Home Community? Do you have an age cap?The current age range is 25-51 years old. And thank goodness, no, we don't have an age cap. It's a good thing, too, because Aline and Tony are expecting a baby this summer so soon we'll have a bigger age range. We'll also get to share some baby love 'cuz, you know, it takes a village to raise a child! We're pretty excited about that!

Who owns the property?The property is owned by two of the residents, Tony and Aline. We have created an LLC to manage the community and are working on transferring ownership to the LLC.

How big are the houses?The Big House is about 1400 square feet. The tinies range in size from 100 to 160 square feet.

What is your overarching goal? What do you hope to accomplish?We frequently discuss our vision but have not landed on a way to describe is to everyone else quite yet. At first the goal was to create a tiny house community. Now that we have, we are working on figuring out what that means and how to do it better.

What are the benefits of living at Simple Home Community? There are so many unforeseen benefits to living at Simply Home Community that we’ve created a Why I Love Simply Home Community google document that we all add to. Here are a few:

We have community dinners 7 nights per week so we each cook once a week and come home to a delicious dinner the other 6 nights of the week.

We have people around to talk to and hang out with.

We have people to share the work and fun with.

We help each other out with projects.

We host parties and events together.

We have a family phone plan, a bulk buy, and a shared Netflix account.

We’ve enjoyed sharing resources as well as the highs and lows of everyday life.

There have been a few nice “and that’s why we live in community” moments (such as the day Lina realized she’d ordered the wrong size bath tub and it happened to be exactly the size Karin was about to order!)

What have been the biggest challenges?Like most communities, we have a difficult time coordinating the schedules of seven busy people so we can all be together for meetings and gatherings. Conversations about sharing work and resources will likely continue, as will discussions about how to handle welcomes and farewells. Community life isn't for everyone and every community is unique and dynamic, so that brings inherent challenges. Right now we're loving the groove we're in!

What projects/initiatives are you working on together?Since moving to the land we’ve built a bike shelter and a garden shed as well as tackling several home improvement projects. In the spring and summer the garden has become a focus of our attention as we plant veggies and herbs. We’re very excited about the garden this summer and we’ve talked of adding a hot tub, too.

Where can I learn more about what it's like to live at Simply Home Community?

Do you know of other tiny house communities in other parts of the country?We're friends with some fine folks at Orlando Lake Front Tiny House & RV Park down in Florida. We keep hearing about others, but many of them are still in the dream stage. If you know of one, please let us know. Also check out Tiny House Community.

What resources should I check out if I'm interested in creating a tiny house community?Thanks for your interest in creating a tiny house community! We'd love the opportunity to learn more about your situation and tell you more about ours. Here's how we could help you get started:

Come to a Tiny House Community Tour at Simply Home Community. Being here will answer LOTS of questions and help you get a feel for what it's like.

Schedule a consultation with Lina to discuss the considerations for your specific situation. She lives at Simply Home, has lots of experience with community building, and has a background in urban planning, so he knows how to speak Plannerese.

Alternatively, if you're in the Portland area and have a piece of property you're considering using for a tiny house community, Lina could do an On-Site Consultation.

Are you accepting new members?No, at this point we're maxed out with all the rooms full in The Big House and all the tiny house parking spots claimed. As opportunities in our area arise we will post them on our Simply Home Community Facebook page. We keep hearing about communities springing up all over our area, so we will post those opportunities as they arise.

How can I get on your waiting list if a spot opens up?Let us know you're interested. We'll ask you to tell us more about you. If you seem like you might be a good fit for our community we'll ask you to come over to visit so we can get to know you. If the liking is mutual we'll add you to the list and let you know when a spot opens up.

Where else can I put my tiny house since you don't have any extra spots?Your very best bet is to find a friend of a friend with a big yard. That's how most people seem to be finding their new homes. If that's not an option, try Craigslist. It really does work for many people. You can also check out: Tiny House Listings, Tiny House Map, and Tiny House Community. Or you can get in touch with the Tiny House Collaborative.​What are you located? What's your street address?What's yours? Perhaps you can imagine it would be strange to have strangers showing up on your doorstep unannounced, asking to take a peek at your kitchen. The same is true at our place. We live in the NE Portland. We love showing off our community and you can come visit if you sign up for one of our Tours. If you can't make a tour you can schedule a consultation to talk tiny.

Do you know of any build sites? Can I build my tiny house at Simply Home Community?Nope. We don't have any build spots. We really like our neighbors and they like us. We want to keep it that way. But we really encourage you to build at Green Anchors where Lina built her tiny house and where Lina and Isha will be building their Tiny House for Two (TH42).

Do you build houses for other people?Not really. We've all designed and built our own tiny homes and some of us do consultations, but none of us are tiny house contractors. If you'd like to learn more about how we can help you get your tiny house designed and built, please schedule a consultation with Lina or come on one of our Tours.

How is your property zoned? How did you get the zoning approved? What kind of zoning category was created by the planning department to allow your community? How did you get the city to approve your community?Zoning officials in Portland, like so many other cities, are fascinated by tiny houses and exploring how it might work to include tiny houses in the housing mix. There are no easy answers, but they've been interested in engaging in conversations and exploration. When we approached the city of Portland the folks in the building department said that tiny houses on wheels weren't their jurisdiction because they're treated as vehicles. The zoning folks said "Let me get this straight. You have 6 unrelated people who share a big house and some of them park their vehicles on the property?" And when we said, "Well, sort of..." They winked and said "Right?!" And we said "yes, that's exactly what we're doing!" So with a wink and a nod, they helped us figure out that we are basically sharing a house and a yard. Which we are. (By the way, at the time there were only 6 of us, which is the maximum number of unrelated people who can share a household in Portland. Then we added another person, but luckily Tony and Aline are married so they're related. Isha and Lina will just have to get married if we decide to add an eighth person to the community!)

What would you say is the average cost of a residence in Simple Home Community? How would you compare these costs to those associated with the average American home? This question is tricky to answer because there are two different things at play here: the value of the houses and the monthly housing costs we all pay. The average amount we pay for housing costs each month is about $400. But that doesn't take into account the investments we've already made in the property and the tiny houses. The four houses on our property (The Big House and the three tinies) probably have a collective value of approximately $500,000. There's a mortgage on The Big House and the tiny houses are paid for outright. The folks who live in tiny houses basically prepaid housing costs by investing in the tiny houses which gives us lower monthly housing costs, but will take us 2-4 years to make the tiny houses pencil out if compared to renting a studio apartment.

What advice would you give to others hoping to form their own tiny house community? Discuss needs and wants over a series of potlucks to determine whether you have enough compatibility amongst yourselves to create a community. Develop a set of Community Living Agreements and be willing to change them as the need arises.

​Whew! You made it to the end of our FAQ. And you STILL have a question about us?! Then please, by all means, get in touch so we can answer it for you and everyone else who might be curious!